"We make good milk." That's simple. But if you think it's deceptively simple, it's because you've been deceived into thinking there is some kind of trick or gimmick or marketing involved with what is honestly called "good." In this instance, Claravale Farm milk is one of two raw, organic milk dairies in the state of California.
I spent the day out at Claravale Farm yesterday. Collette Cassidy, the wife of Ron Garthwaite (the dairy farmer and maker of Good Milk) invited us to her birthday party--right on the farm. It's the first time I've been out there since April, and it was a joyous day to be there. I was happiest to see Jim and Rebecca and baby Fiona, from TLC Ranch, because I have just loved getting to know them in the past couple of weeks. But it was great to see some people I haven't seen in years, and some people I know only in print.
Upon arrival, I can honestly tell you that I could smell the bacon a full one hundred feet away from the house...where the kitchen is in the back. And while there is a cow pasture up front, nary an aromatic molecule from the cow kitchen did a cow pie send. If you know what I mean. The breakfast buffet included fruit salad, bagels, lox, Quiche Lorraine, bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese, buttermilk biscuits, apple tarts, berry tarts, fresh squeezed orange juice, and champagne. Everything was top notch, because that's how Ron and Collette do things. Best of all, there was Ron's butter...in my entire life, I have never had butter this good. It was so far beyond any good butter I've had, and so much the essence, the distillation of what butter should be, that I couldn't speak immediately. And when I could, I begged for more.
There were farm games: pumpkin tossing, an egg race, and a corn-eating contest. Prize winners were sent home with entire crates of Claravale milk or cream...no surprise to anyone that Jim Dunlop won the pumpkin-tossing contest. He refused to enter the corn-eating contest, despite me teasing him about the size of his choppers, grinning, "I am a corn-eating machine. It wouldn't be fair to all those people. Besides, I already won." Jim had pretty much sewn it up before he entered: when he raised his hand to indicate interest, a stranger next to him said, "Buddy, go claim your prize."
A beautiful young woman at the party, Yeyen Gunawan (those are her fabulous feet, to the left), with a mane of the shiniest black hair-to-the-waist you can imagine, told me she is opening a Cafe La Vie, a raw foods restaurant, in Santa Cruz, and wants to use some of my farm photographs for the decor. Let me just tell you how glad I was not to be going through the buffet line with her, because the bacon (Beeler's) at this party was pretty much the best anyone I talked to have had. And it's from Iowa, corny as that is. (I love Niman Ranch uncured bacon, but this stuff was ridiculous. It was the Mister T of bacon.)
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(Pictured at right, a young guest can't resist the temptation to try the frosting on Collette's birthday cake, which was the biggest princess cake I've ever seen, from Gayle's Bakery.)
As the last guests left, Colette and Ron invited me to stay for tea. Luckily, I had brought tea (for obscure reasons) and treated us all to some of the Adagio Earl Grey. I brought three of the samples that Adagio had sent me (full disclosure) when I begged to be included in their offer to food bloggers back during a month that involved tea-themed recipes. I brought Yunnan Jig, Mango, and Earl Grey. The Earl Grey was the unanimous choice, and it was the perfect cup of tea for sitting in the late afternoon sunlight and nibbling leftover bacon.
Ron, Collette and I discussed the idea of me designing a new website for Claravale Dairy, and that's when Ron said, "I make good milk." Claravale does no marketing: Ron sells every drop of milk the cows give. He said a lot of interesting things, including "We do not want to be affiliated with any kind of food movement...not Slow Food, not anything related to 'foodies' or a 'lifestyle.' We're doing what has been done for a million years: it's the oldest thing in the world. It irritates me when people act like they've discovered me." We talked about the new celebrity of farmers, and the tendency of society in general to celebrity-itis.
Ron got into dairy farming because he loves cows. He showed me his new ones: a mother and daughter, and a little bull who are from Ireland. Collette named the daughter "Bridget," and I suggested Seamus for the little bull, who was quite the feisty little creature.
The website isn't intended to market the milk, or to promote a lifestyle, as Ron put it. However, there is a lot of good information that Claravale can give people who want to know more about the benefits of raw, organic milk. I'm looking forward to this project a lot. Ron and Collette are two of my favorite people that have come to me through my work with farms and ranches.
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SUNDAY FARMERS MARKET ON EAST CLIFF DRIVE
Before I'd gone to the party, I went to the Sunday farmers market, which truly is my favorite market of the week. (Note to Nesh: WHY CAN YOU NOT OPEN THIS MARKET ALL YEAR LONG?) Good news for me: I scored one of the last of TLC Ranch's milk-fed chickens, and got to talk to Adriane again. (Yes, I had spelled her name wrong previously.)
Nell Newman, of Newman's Own Organics, was shopping, too, and I saw her chatting with Rebecca King (pictured, left, in her chef coat), the executive chef at Gabriella Cafe. Rebecca, I may or may not have mentioned is a former farmer herself, and knew Nell Newman from working with the Organic Farm Research Foundation here in town. (I can't wait to talk to them.)
Rebecca told me she's doing about four markets a week, "it's ridiculous," but she's like me: a farm geek who knows how good the food is. And besides, it's fun.
Lauren Champagne, at Happy Boy Farms, does amazing things with the produce they're growing--she is the one who makes the salsa and the canned goods. I promised to get out there for a visit. She invited me to a cider pressing this autumn, which I'll be photographing. She wondered if that was farmy enough for me. (Are you kidding? An apple orchard?) Her little son was the absolute star of the market on this particular morning because, at age three, he is able to ride a bike without training wheels. Maybe if they hadn't named him "Ryder," things would be different.
Oh, and it was a such good market. So good I didn't take a single picture. The joint was jumping, and Logan blew many kisses. I learned from Joe Schirmer that he's going to be a guest blogger for Pim T. (not some random occurrence: they are friends!), whose highly-rated fine dining food blog heretofore has been all about the (very very) finest restaurants in the solar system and her own skillful adventures in cooking.
So I guess the farm thing is catching on big-time.
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A CHALLENGE TO FOOD BLOGGERS
Find a local organic/sustainable farm and write about it. Meet the farmer if you can, but don't interrupt a busy work day. (That is my cardinal rule of blogging about farms: respect that these people may work a hundred hours a week.)
What say you? If not a farmer, a farmstand or perhaps an artisan food producer.
Of primary importance should be the organic/sustainable part, and if you don't know why, find one of these farmers and ask. Feel free to use this post for a trackback to your entry, and I'll be happy to feature your posts in future blog entries.
Honestly, the reason I do what I do is to show people how beautiful farms are, so that you will say to yourselves, "Where is my beautiful farm? Where is my groovy farmer?"
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A VISIT TO A NEW (TO ME) FARM TODAY
I went out this morning to VB Farms, to meet Vanessa Bogenhelm of Sunshine Organic, and to taste the Diamonte and Aroma strawberries she's growing. (They. Are. Good.)
Vanessa also happens to be the Chairman of CCOF; she is a statuesque powerhouse and a font of information. Stay tuned for more on that, soon. She has her own "celebrity farmer" stories that include Willie Brown and the Rich and Powerful in San Francisco and Marin, and I was alternately aghast and amused by the things she told me. It was an hour-and-a-half visit, but it felt like fifteen minutes.
On the way home, I stopped again at beautiful little Crystal Bay Farm, just down the road from Vanessa's spot off San Andreas Road, and came home with two little baskets of their red raspberries. Gosh, what a good deal: $2/basket!
And with that, I'm off again, going back to Claravale Farm to visit the actual dairy. Ron was surprised that I hadn't seen it yet, so he's giving me the tour. I love love love the cows. I'll wear my WILL WORK FOR BUTTER sign and hope Ron takes the hint.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Farms are the new black!
It's a good thing I registered "FarmsAreTheNew Black.com" several months ago, heh.
Thanks for visiting.
Loved your story on Claravale Dairy. The milk from Claravale is the best milk I've ever tasted. I can imagine how good the butter is! I live in Sacramento and people literally line up for Claravale milk on days it's scheduled to arrive.
Love your weblog, too. All kinds of great information and photos.
Posted by: Marie McLean | 06 September 2005 at 06:35 PM
Thank you, Marie.
I visited the actual dairy yesterday, and look forward to writing about that. Ron told me that people get very creative in trying to find ways to get the milk sooner. Heh.
Posted by: tanabutler | 06 September 2005 at 06:37 PM
Hi Tana, what a wonderful post. You definitely make me think that I am missing out on something when it comes to that milk and butter. And the day at the farm sounds wonderful-I'll go anywhere where you can smell the bacon from a 100 yards away :) I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Posted by: michele | 07 September 2005 at 02:42 AM
Hi Tana,
I love your blog. I try to work with local farmers and visit them from time to time in the Central New York area. I'm also trying to introduce folks in our area to the notion and resources for eating sustainably. Here is a link to a post I wrote about a visit to the Evans Farmhosue Creamery: http://jbbsyracuse.typepad.com/cookin_in_the_cuse/2005/07/local_food_sour.html. I'll be going back and will ping you when I write about future farm visits.
Posted by: Jennifer | 10 September 2005 at 02:37 PM
Gosh, and I thought I dressed in black to hide the dirt! :) It is good to read about someone getting into something (like Ron) because they love it. All to often it seems people are focusing on making mega-bucks. I love working with our animals, gardening and being outdoors for the morning. It makes pasturing them fun. I see other farmers struggling, doing it things the 'new traditional way' with their pigs in crates and pens and cringe inside. Neither the farmer nor the animal seem happy.
Posted by: Walter Jeffries | 12 October 2005 at 04:18 PM
I have only recently started using Claravale Farms raw milk due to increasing knowledge of the benefits of raw milk, etc. I buy it at Wholefoods Market. Besides milk, however, I have found only limited amounts of raw milk cheese. I live near LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), and I would like to know where I can obtain other raw milk products such as butter, buttermilk, etc.
Thank you for any assistance you can give me.
Posted by: Nancy Nilson | 24 May 2006 at 12:25 AM